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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
This study questions the traditional assumption that Venetian cittadini emulated the collecting and patronage patterns of the ruling nobility. An alternative theoretical model, drawn from sociological, anthropological, and historical analyses of collecting, suggests that the cittadini should be cultural innovators rather than followers. Case studies of two prominent early-sixteenth-century cittadini collectors reveal that, although they pursued different strategies, neither sought distinction primarily by imitating established patrician tastes: both were at the forefront of new developments. In both their differences from the nobility and in their heterogeneity as a social group, the cittadini have had an unrecognized impact on the style and content of Venetian art in the "Golden Age."